What is a characteristic of a social engineering attack?

A key characteristic of a social engineering attack is the manipulation of individuals. Social engineering relies on psychological tactics to deceive people into divulging confidential information or performing actions that compromise security. Instead of exploiting technical vulnerabilities in systems or networks directly, these attacks target human behavior, exploiting trust, fear, or a sense of urgency to achieve their objectives.

This approach can take various forms, such as phishing emails that trick recipients into revealing personal details or phone calls from attackers pretending to be legitimate personnel requesting sensitive information. The effectiveness of social engineering relies heavily on the attacker’s ability to understand and manipulate social dynamics, making it distinct from other forms of security breaches that focus on hardware or software vulnerabilities.